Photographer of Families, Small People and Delightful Places, Travel and Lifestyle Writer and Blogger, Lives in Newcastle, Loves the North, Often Accompanied By A Beagle Named Holly Bobbins

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The end of an adorable chapter...

For every person who reads the articles I write, I am truly thankful, for everyone who messages me or comments or contacts me on social media, I am even more thankful, I was talking on a Facebook thread about Mr. Adorable the other day and Amy said "I think there are 30,000 people who all want you guys to have a 3rd date" (sorry for paraphrasing lovely Amy, I would go and look for the original thread but I fear I'd get lost on the way).

So, it happened!! (OMG, OMG, OMG) Yes, he came for dinner and met my teenagers, this is no mean feat, I mean we're pretty proud to be not exactly what you would term as normal (although Abigail describes herself as the normal one) so I can't think how intimidating it must have been for him. It's always tricky meeting the children of the person you are dating and I'd spoken to the girls to tell them that if they didn't like him I wouldn't see him again because my kids, my beautiful teenagers are the reason I live and I never want anyone to come between us.

And unfortunately, that is where our story ends, I believe that he will always be adorable but he won't be my adorable, he really truly pulled the wool over all our eyes, or I should say all except Looby who did say that she wasn't enamoured but dog, cats, teenagers, friends, well we just never saw it coming and in the end that "there's just no spark for me" was very much unexpected. Another conversation ends and that is the sad part although I have no regrets and I wouldn't change the way I approach situations, in my whole life I've strived not to become someone who shut themselves away from potential relationships because if you do that, you may close yourself off to something potentially wonderful.

I don't bear any grudges but I do wonder why he went to the trouble of getting to know me over 6 weeks and then meeting my kids who I swore I wouldn't introduce to anyone until I knew in the way that you know and I really thought I knew, maybe it was wishful thinking?

Kelly rushed around with wine and hugs, Harriet called from New York to make sure I was ok, Laura counselled me over messenger, Darren was on hand with hilarious Snapchats, I adore my friends, I would be lost without them, as I've said before, they are my "Framily" and I am so lucky to have them.

I've said this before, I am eccentric, I am not going to be for everyone, my body is wrecked from childbirth, c-sections, and a hysterectomy, my face is weird and growing lines and wrinkles, I also like cake too much which sticks to my hips and I'm the wrong side of 40!

But, I am successful, smart, erudite, funny, I am quirky, I am the most loving humanitarian who embraces her friends, their kids and their animals and any other creatures with her whole heart, I am extraordinary and different and one day I'm going to meet someone who is going to be the Yin to my Yang, the Tom to my Miranda, the Benedick to my Beatrice...

For now, though I have many adventures to plan, I've just found out that I'm off to Singapore on a press trip at the beginning of December, a brave new world and the furthest I'll ever have travelled so far in my life, I cannot wait to share the millions of photos I'll no doubt take and I'll hopefully make you feel like you're on the journey with me, we can go embrace new cultures together.

If I thought I would spend the rest of my life alone I could probably deal with it as long as I knew I would always have friends, I do have to believe there's someone out there for me though, someone who won't mind the crazy and more than that, someone who will wholeheartedly embrace it. I need to take some time now to figure out my head, maybe I just wasn't ready and that made me vulnerable so that I missed the signs and signals or maybe there are things you can't change in your heart and mind no matter how much you would like to.

We will remain friends, I have no doubt and for that I'm grateful, he was a gentle reintroduction to the menfolk of the new millenium and the truth is that human relationships are complicated and it's not easy to find your soul mate or your other half, truly Plato was right when he said we spend our whole lives just trying to find the other half of us but sometimes, just sometimes, I wish it was so much easier...